Dear Judy, I am soooo jealous that you have your book. Unfortuanately I have been sidetracked by a sick son-who is now out of hospital and I find the time has sped by and the BOOK is here!! Which edition did you go for?It seems so much has happened on the site while I have been away, glad to see everyone is still blogging away.

Joined: 29 Sep 2004Posts: 1196Location: buried under a pile of books somewhere in Adelaide, South Australia

Posted: Fri May 18, 2007 10:36 am Post subject:

I have the US edition.

It's lovely to see some C&Z friends' names in print in the acknowledgement section for helping test recipes ... Erin, Rainey, Donna, Melinda, Ann (brighidsdaughter). Who else? Come, on, don't be shy - you have all helped Clotilde create a beautiful, lasting reference and a piece of C&Z we can all hold in our hands. Have I mentioned that I love books?!

Thank you to all the recipe testers._________________Doing what you like is freedom
Liking what you do is happiness

Can I just say how very, VERY envious I am of all of you who've got the book already? As it won't hit the shops in the UK til next week (grrrrrrr) I've got to stew until then, and all your comments are just making the wait even harder... Still, maybe not such a bad thing that I have to wait a few more days. It's going to be my boyfriend's present to me for submitting my thesis (which happens in... one hour!) and frankly, I'm not going to have the energy to do much cooking for the next couple of days anyway!

I've been on a blue cheese kick lately, so I chose the Walnut, Pear and Roquefort Madeleines as my first recipe since the book came out. Oh yum. Really really yum.

I've shared it with neighbors, who gave it a big thumbs up. My husband and I ate several muffins (I used a mini-muffin pan rather than madeleine molds) with our salad last night, and the savory flavors were a perfect accompaniment.

Now - the funny and embarrassing part: I've made them twice since yesterday because on the first go around (the one I first shared & had with dinner) I LEFT OUT THE BUTTERMILK!! D'oh. It dawned on me much later last night. I can't believe I was such a dope. So as soon as I got home today, I made them again, this time with all Clotilde's intended ingredients ( ).

The neighbors and I sampled the correctly prepared version and it is even better, of course. The crumb is really nice and fluffy, and all the flavors blend nicely (plus, they each are distict enough to make an individual statement.) I don't know why the buttermilk-less version worked so well, but they really were good. The correctly prepared version was obviously more moist, plus they puffed up a bit more.

Now I can't wait to make something else from the book! Maybe I'll remember all the ingredients this time

Dear all,
As you can easily imagine, reading this thread puts a large smile on my face. Thank you for your enthusiasm, your support, and your kind words. The thought of my book in all of these unknown kitchens is making my head spin, and I am pleased to think that it is in such good hands!
Clotilde.

Joined: 29 Sep 2004Posts: 1196Location: buried under a pile of books somewhere in Adelaide, South Australia

Posted: Sat May 19, 2007 12:43 am Post subject:

Clotilde, how wonderful to see you here!

Your book is wonderful, and my copy is destined to become one of the most-read and used cookbook on my shelves. We all have at least one which opens to the most-used recipes, and has bits of goop on the pages from where the mixing spoon dripped when we were checking what to do next. My C&Z Book will end up one of those books, I'm sure.

I hope you're having a fantastic time on your book tour._________________Doing what you like is freedom
Liking what you do is happiness

Le nouveau livr-ais est arrivé! The US edition was waiting in my mailbox today! Yippee! I've never pre-ordered from amazon.com before so this was a terrific surprise. And just in time for a shopping spree at the local farmer's market tomorrow morning.

It is beautiful and colorful and the photos are tremendous - Clotilde, you have a real photographic talent, as well. The recipes sound delicious. I love how the recipes display a variety of tastes and textures, simple to complex - it's like good jazz. Sometimes it's straightforward, other times it's richly layered and deceptively clashes.

Joined: 29 Sep 2004Posts: 1196Location: buried under a pile of books somewhere in Adelaide, South Australia

Posted: Sat May 19, 2007 7:22 am Post subject:

For anyone with the US edition living outside the US, you may be wondering about cup and spoon sizes. A google search gave me a lot of websites about ladies bra sizes, but I did finally discover this gem, which looks like just what we need to do our conversions for us. It's on The Metric Kitchen website ...

Gateaux Ricotta report! This cake reminds me of the Gateau au Yaourt on this site, a cake made many times by many C&Z readers, I suspect. But this one (page 171 US edition) uses ricotta cheese, and is flavored with orange zest (not a lot) and vanilla. The texture is smooth and dense (like pound cake, but with more oomph from the cheese.)
Clotilde used apricots/pistachios for her topping, but suggested alternatives--I used the apple/hazelnut variation. (No fresh apricots in stores yet.) (If you place lots of apple slices 'round and 'round in a pattern, this cake looks extreeemely French )
My SO, who whines almost constantly for chocolate, liked it just fine!
Very nice cake, and perfect with tea, as Clotilde notes.

The wonderful Blueberry Amandine Tart (pg. 188, U.S. edition) should be marked with a big sticky flag for quick reference. It is really a fantastic way to highlight blueberries - not too sweet but absolutely luscious. The directions are clear and easy to follow, plus the ingredient amounts worked out perfectly. Take care to choose blueberries at their peak if you use fresh berries, you will be glad you did.

The tart would be a very popular dessert to serve to guests or to take to a party for a special treat.

And now my book has its first official smudge - almond cream. There will be more smudges to come, I'm sure!